morals, and religion, and look at the subject from a point of view so remote that they cannot see what is needed.

It now only remains to inquire whether the Theater can be reformed from without; that is, can Christian poets and moralists be found to compose, and Christian men and women to represent, their compositions in living sympathy with their work. And this is one of a large class of inquiries which, when propounded, answer themselves, and in this case the answer is in the negative.

Such an attempt would have many insuperable obstacles to surmount. Dramatic poets are not made to order, and actors, whatever their natural endowments, require long training and practice before they can succeed. Such a movement would, of necessity, avow hostility to the existing institution, and could find no materials on which to rely. The existing literature of the stage could be but in small part appropriated. The dullness of "Christian " acting, and “Christian" comedy and tragedy, could not compete before the Theater-going public with the high seasoning to which they have so long been

accustomed, while those who should begin to attend for the first time would be acting from principle in the line of penance, and the "beggarly array of empty boxes" which would soon be seen, would furnish boundless material for satire.

It must not be lost sight of that in every case the number of Christian Theater-goers would be much smaller in proportion to their whole number than of irreligious persons. For every active Christian has a demand upon him for from two to three evenings per week: such as the prayer-meeting; if he happens to be an officer, the official meeting; the meeting of the Sunday-school teachers; and many other calls upon his time. So that very many Christians, if they loved the Theater, and if the Utopian Reformed Theater were perfected, could not often patronize it. And very many pious men and women find in their religious exercises all the enjoyment they need, and are cheerful through life without once thinking of the necessity of making systematic provision for amusement. Others, and in the aggregate a great multitude of Christians, are poor, and to educate their children, and to give a

little to Christian benevolence, requires all that they can save, and they could have no money for such amusements. Hence, it is equally chimerical to expect that the Theater can be reformed by Christians either from without, or by their holding, through numbers, the balance of power and becoming the arbiters of taste.

The suggestion is made by Miss Field that, "were enlightened souls to endow a Theater, as colleges are frequently endowed, whereby it might become totally independent of popular caprice, the benefits conferred on public morals and on histrionic art would be incalculable. Is the suggestion utterly Utopian ?"

If the benefit to public morals of such an institution would be incalculable, it is, perhaps, a valid inference that the influence on the public morals of the present condition of the Theater is very bad; but however this may be, the radical difference between colleges and places of amusement must not be overlooked. Colleges make no appeal to the general public, but to a particular class, having a careful preparation, a definite purpose, and a willingness to

be trained by those whose authority and competency are recognized. But an endowed Theater would either open its doors to the public for free admission, or make the usual charge.

In the former case it would be subject to the charge of being hostile to the regular profession, and in the latter it would not be removed from popular caprice, and in any form it would be subject to criticism and intense competition. And if Christians were to attempt a censorship of such a Theater, or any other, it would be a mark for every shaft of ridicule; and from causes heretofore set forth, and the absence of the usual excitement, it would be an insipid and unsatisfactory thing. But it is unnecessary to further discuss an impracticable proposition.

CHAPTER XXI.

MAKING UP JUDGMENT ON THE MAIN ISSUE.

CERTAIN remarkable coincidences must strike

every one in reviewing this subject. In general terms it may be said that all evangelical Churches in this country, except the Protestant Episcopal, are opposed to the Theater, and teach that it should not be attended by Christians: and that the more in sympathy with spiritual religion the ministers and members of that Church are, the less the countenance they give to the Theater. It is equally obvious that all the non-evangelical bodies are either favorable or indifferent in their moral attitude to the Theater; also that the more worldly and formal portion of the Protestant Episcopal Church entertain no scruples against the Theater, and generally attend it.

While the more earnest and devoted to the work of promoting Christianity by personal efforts any denomination may be, the more pronounced is its